Aint
that the truth. Life has been busy and happening all over the place
over the last couple months. Here is my best catch-up-nutshell version
of our crazy life...
We survived yet another tax season.
Are they getting harder or are we just getting older? Or both? The
good news is that I'm looking forward to that post-labor amnesia that
should be kicking in any day now where looking back "it wasn't that
bad...". The GREAT news is that
Brian really likes his job. And,
really, life is too short not to.
Blake earned his yellow
belt in karate, way to go, Blake!
Of course now it's getting harder and he hasn't totally committed to practicing, but I'm hoping the hitting and kicking techniques will change his mind (so long as he doesn't practice
those on his siblings). When he's not going kung foo, Blake is putting his new pocket knife to use following his recent Cub Scouts refresher on whittling. He's so proud, what do you think of his fish?
Note: whittling a small bar of soap takes a lot of- okay, too much- focus and patience for a group of excited third grade boys.
We also learned how
to ski Southern California style- on grass, of course!
It actually
turned out to be a really good team building exercise with Scouts that ended up
being very akin to rowing. And I'm happy to report that Blake seems to finally be doing much better in
school...now that it's May. No doubt he's looking forward to summer and more fort building (he actually builds
rooms in his forts!).
Garrett has continued to amaze us with his unique and original Lego creations.
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| This is the "graveyard" he built complete with headstones, a "creepy" tree, spider web and spider. |
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| Watching Garrett construct this sphinx was pretty amazing- he new exactly what piece needed and where to put it. He built his in under 5 minutes. |
It seems like daily that he comes up with something new. I can't wait
to see what he comes up with at Lego camp this summer...should be
interesting. While I'm still trying to wrap my brain around him turning eight, Garrett has managed to finagle three family birthday celebrations and a friend party next month. This kid is going to be a millionaire someday... These days he's added another
Character Counts wristband to his collection after being rewarded at school for turning in money he found on the playground.
Does this nullify the Character Violation he got earlier that week?
Chase is still a bigger version of his sweet and loving self. He's become quite the talker these days and goes from 0 to frustrated in about .01 seconds...patience is
not this child's virtue. But, fortunately, being too darn cute is. And so are compassion, affection and cuddling. Yeah, he's pretty irresistible. He's also become quite the little dancer/singer. Here are his moves to Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
Otherwise, his biggest challenge right now is trying to be "one of the 'big' boys" when his body is only three (which doesn't help his frustration).
Ella got her first hair cut! Yes, while Chase has had more than we can count, we've been holding out on getting Ella's haircut so she could have long hair. And now that she does, she wants it cut "like a boy". The compromise was just a trim, which turned out much
better than I was anticipating considering that she was growling at the stylist the entire time.
She even got a style (something I'm strictly prohibited from going). In the end she walked away with a
"Jedi" braid- the one and only time, I'm sure.
She has also become quite enthused with drawing. Here is
the first official drawing that is recognizable to others- can you
guess what it is?
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| It's kind of hard to see, but according to Ella it's a spider. |
Now if I could just harness that creativity
exclusively to paper...
And, of course, she is still dressing up (and undressing) Ella-style constantly.
Here's one of the coolest things about preschool- the twins got to celebrate their "special day" at school, where they
celebrate non-school birthdays. They were super proud to have Aunt Renee come to read a few of
their favorite books.
Aimee. My updates are a little less exciting...I'm still running about 20 miles a week, which is good considering I
discovered cake pops (and really wish I hadn't)!
Other than keeping up with family, I've been working a little less and
am promising myself I will make time to write more. Summer is just
around the corner and I'm ready- or at least armed- with workbooks, summer camps and sunscreen.
Easter was low-key this year. Mostly because we had been too busy to
plan much more than an egg hunt and a totally nontraditional (but easy) lasagna dinner. I really need to
talk to the Easter bunny about rescheduling Easter for AFTER tax
season. Just as well- we went light on the egg hunt too, since I had
already eaten most of the candy.
Mother's Day was also low-key (the theme around here when things get crazy). And, you really can't go wrong with a massage to celebrate.
This was the Mother's Day Tea at the twin's preschool where the kids in
the class created the menu for the moms. This year it was chicken
noodle soup, lemonade and chocolate ice cream. Yum? What I love about that is that they are all comfort foods, which tells me the kids love the comfort of mom!
Then there was the hailstorm of '12. We had a few days of cold rain and hail- so much so that it accumulated just enough to make ONE snow/iceball. By the next weekend it was 80 degrees, so that was our winter and then we were into spring. It was fun while it lasted.
One of the coolest things about San Diego is "Free Tuesdays" at
Balboa Park. On this day we went with Nana to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs (of course) and then went to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center where the kids got to explore for hours. A portion of the upstairs was dedicated to stick building- whatever you can imagine and build! We all had fun building masterpieces (and learning about physics...).
Over
Spring Break the
kids and I got to visit with John, Jen, Patrick and Jessica, who we haven't seen in almost eight years! What a
great time (minus the stomach bug that knocked a few of us
down), and how fun to be grown ups and reminisce about childhood! It
was especially fun getting to know Patrick and Jessica a little better-
what sweet kids (which is strange to call them, since they are both
taller than me and twice as big since the last time I saw them).
Speaking of family, we recently had the privilege of hosting a family of House Wrens in the
birdhouse the boys made with Grandpa a few years back. Blake was the first to notice it, but I was doubtful because I thought the hole was too small. Turns out, it was just the right size for a small bird and perfect shelter for a nest!
In fact, we've had quite a variety of birds hanging out at our house lately- a Scrub Jay that waits on our patio for bread crumbs, a Coopers Hawk and a Redtail Hawk that consider our yard prime hunting grounds, hummingbirds that keep checking back to see if we've refilled our feeders, and a woodpecker that can be heard and seen poking at the neighbors' trees. Blake even did his school presentation on birds- and a special thanks to Aunt Nee Nee for helping him!
And in the midst of it all, we moved
Penny/Grandma & David/Grandpa in early March to be closer to us. The move was all that Penny had
talked about wanting for years, and we were able to spend a little more
time with her in the last month. Sadly she passed away just a few
weeks after moving here (more on that in another post) and we think about and miss her often.
The good news is that this
summer is promising to be unforgettable!
The boys are really looking forward to fishing and bird watching with
Grandpa, going to Lego, Lasertag and rock climbing camps, and hopefully
spending most other days in their bathing suits (literally, not
metaphorically, although nothing would surprise me in this house).
Chase & Ella will hopefully be taking swim lessons and tumbling.
And I'm just hoping to keep my sanity :)
